On-Line Scheduling Method for Track Systems in Semiconductor Fabrication

Abstract

This paper addresses an on-line scheduling method for track systems in semiconductor fabrication. A track system is a clustered equipment performing photolithography process in semiconductor fabrication. Trends toward high automation and flexibility in the track systems accelerate the necessity of the intelligent controller that can guarantee reliability and optimize productivity of the track systems. This paper proposes an-efficient on-line scheduling method that can avoid deadlock inherent to track systems and optimize the productivity. We employ two procedures for the on-line scheduling. First, we define potential deadlock set to apply deadlock avoidance policy efficiently. After introducing the potential deadlock set, we propose a deadlock avoidance policy using an on-line Gantt chart, which can generate optimal near-optimal schedule without deadlock. The proposed on-line scheduling method is shown to be efficient in handling deadlock inherent to the track systems through simulation.